Schedule Changes

 

Every year the week between schedule pick up days to the first days of the school year are filled with students asking about making changes to their schedules. We are happy to try to help facilitate schedule change requests, but we need to make sure you know a few things...

1. We are not authorized to make any teacher changes.  Sorry.  We can't move you from one teacher to another teacher's class. We know that you all have favorite teachers from previous years or teachers that our siblings had that you hoped to have too. We get it, but the administration works really hard to balance all schedules with timing and course sections and they don't want us to undermine that work by making things unbalanced. 

2. We cannot overload classes. If a class is full, there is no way for us to add you into the class. Think about it, you know how packed many of the classes are and how many desks are in the room. Each teacher and each period can only have so many students.

3. You need to have your graduation requirement classes. Obviously a big end goal of your classes is to graduate and so those take priority over every other request.

4. If the classes you have requested is only offered during 1st or 8th period then we cannot give you 1st or 8th period off. We're sorry. We know a lot of juniors and seniors hope for late arrival or early release, but the only way the master schedule works when the administrators build it is for classes to be spread across all 8 periods. They focus on eliminating as many conflicts as possible and so that sometimes means a class that is only offered once per day ends up being in 1st or 8th period.

5. We know a lot of times the hopes and expectations you had aren't in alignment with what the reality is when you first see your schedule. Pause and give yourself a little bit of time to process through it. It can be hard when you think that you're the only one in a particular lunch (we promise you're not) or that you don't have any classes with your friends. Every year we end up encouraging kids to just go to class and give it a try and see who else is in their classes and they realize that a friend they had classes with a year or two ago is also in that class and they are given the chance to rekindle the friendship again. Just don't panic when you see your schedule.

6. If you want to change levels from AP/ IB/ Honors classes that had summer work to other classes without summer work, remember you are still responsible for completing those summer assignments and the grade will go with you into the new class. (So if you're doing all of that work for the class, are you sure you really don't want to just stick with the class you had requested a few months ago?)

7. If you want to request a schedule change, stop and see us after you pick up your schedule - we will be in our offices during the schedule pick up times and are happy to meet with you. Come see us!

Interesting College Data

As high school counselors, we spend a LOT of time reading and reviewing information from and about colleges. This is important information for us to be aware of so that we can help provide accurate information to students and families as you are navigating the college application and admissions process.

Data isn't always everyone's favorite to explore - it is way more enjoyable to check out college websites with happy photos and eye-catching graphics, but, when you're trying to figure out if a college is a good fit for you or what the reality is for being accepted or getting financial aid at a particular school, digging into the data can be unbelievably helpful.

Big J Educational Consulting releases data every year that counselors, students and families can use to help compare various colleges. And it is set up in an easily interactive format so that you can play around and look at the colleges you are considering.

If you (or your son/ daughter) is working on figuring out which colleges could be a good fit for the future, it would be worth spending some time exploring their data. We definitely had some eye-opening moments as we looked at the information.

Schedule Pick Up Days

Are you getting excited to see your schedules for the coming school year?  Schedule pick up days are coming one week from today and we wanted to make sure all of you are aware of the days and times when you will be able to pick up your schedules... sorry, we can't email out copies ahead of time.

Tuesday, August 11th: 
9th graders, 11th graders: 8:30am - 11:30am

Wednesday, August 12th:
10th graders and 12th graders: 12:30pm - 3:30pm

Thursday, August 13th:
Any grade level of students: 5:00pm-8:00pm

Don't forget, schedule pick up day is packed with lots of activities like getting your school picture taken, picking up your books, etc.

The process is paperless again this year which means that your emergency medical information, health forms, and athletic forms should ideally be updated online BEFORE coming through the schedule pick up lines. Those forms will all be on the Worthington Schools website (not counselor website).

We know that every year there are questions about what you should do if you are not available to attend on your designated schedule pick up time. If you cannot pick up your schedule and books on your designated time, then you can come to school on the other schedule pick-up day/ times. If you will not be able to attend any of the designated days/ times, then you will not be able to pick up your your books or get your student ID made until the 1st day of school, but schedules will be available online starting Monday, August 17th or you're welcome to come to school on either Monday the 17th or Tuesday, August 18th from 1:00 - 3:00pm.  (No morning pick up's on those dates though because we are all in mandatory meetings both mornings.)

Each year schedule pick up days are two of the craziest days in our offices, but we are looking forward to seeing you!

It's August!

It's August... which means a lot of things to different people. For fall athletes, it means seasons are now beginning in full-force. For students and teachers, it means summer is ending and the countdown to classes is on. And for seniors, it means that Common App is now live for the Class of 2027.

Common App is a website that students can use to apply to a wide range of colleges with the same basic core application and then separate individual smaller application sections for each individual college. There are over 1,100 colleges who accept the Common Application so it is definitely a site that a LOT of students will find themselves using if you will be applying directly to a 4-year college.

It can be great for seniors to log into Common App and start the basic information for your applications. But every year we have seniors who think they know exactly the right answers for various questions and then realize that they were not correct. We don't want that to happen to you!

In order to help prepare seniors for filling out the Common App we will host a Common App 101 Workshop where seniors will literally bring your computer and log into your own Common App account and we will walk you through the application step by step to help you be sure that you are completing all of the information accurately.

These are such an important part of the college application process that we will host the same workshop 3 different times so that you can pick the date and time that works best for your schedule. They are:

• Friday, August 14th at 10:30am
• Monday, August 17th at 1:30pm
• Thursday, September 10th at 7:45am

All of the workshops will be held in Room 201 at WKHS. Space will be limited for each session so we do ask that students register to let us know which session you will be attending.

Like you, we will be holding tight and trying to squeeze every last moment of enjoyment out of the remaining days of summer. But we are also looking forward to seeing you and hearing all about your breaks (and, for the seniors, which colleges are on your finalized list.)

College and Finances

Normally, when we are talking about college and finances the focus is on finding a college that will be a good Financial Fit for the student/ family. But, today we want to talk about a different aspect of college and finances - the college's financial stability.

As school counselors, we spend a lot of our time reading, listening to, and attending workshops about all different aspects of supporting students with their pursuit of college. One of the aspects that has been fascinating, strange, scary, and definitely not what we expected to be learning about is the fact that there are colleges who are really struggling financially. And that can potentially have a really big impact on students.

Now, we don't want to create panic among anyone as you are considering colleges, but it is something that students and families should be aware of and it is a great place to ask questions of colleges to learn more. The reality is that when a student selects a 4-year college, they assume that they will graduate from that college. But if the school is in financial distress and ends up having to close while you are in college (which is rare, but happens) then students are left scrambling to figure out how and where to finish their degree. (The good news, is that when this has happened, other colleges have stepped up and provided paths to help support the students in the path towards their future.)

Forbes released a report about the college financial grades that they assigned based upon the financial standing of the school. They looked at over 900 private, non-profit, colleges who have at least 500 students. It is a fascinating wealth of information. Here is a link to the story/ report.

As I was playing around in the data, I sorted to look at all of the Ohio colleges. 14 of the Ohio private colleges have a D grade on their financial stability. The good news, is that 15 have grades of A's or B's so more of Ohio's colleges are in good standing than those struggling.

Once again, we want to caution you that you shouldn't just automatically remove a college who appears to have a low grade from your consideration, but it is worth including their status as a part of your information gathering when you are meeting with the college reps. I hope you enjoy messing around and exploring the data that Forbes has captured.

AP/ IB Test Scores

As of today, all students who took AP or IB tests this spring can now access your test results on the AP/ IB websites. We know you studied hard and prepared well for the assessments so we hope you will be happy with the results you find!

Just a reminder, if you were a student who took AP English Language last year and are planning to take CC+ Comp or CC+ Literature this year, double check that your scores and the classes you had signed up for make sense. (So, for example, if you assumed you would get a 3 on the AP Lang test and so you didn't sign up for Comp 1, but you only scored a 2, you need to let us know so we can adjust your course requests to put you into Comp 1. Or, on the other hand, if you decided to put down Comp 1 in your course requests just to be safe and you scored a 3 or higher on the AP Lang test, you need to let us know so we can adjust your schedule as you don't need to repeat Comp 1 again.) You also need to be sure that you send those test results to CSCC so that they have the documentation needed for you to skip Comp 1.

Summer Assignments

It's hard to believe that we are about halfway through the summer already! We hope you have been enjoying your summer in spite of the hot, humid days we have right now. While you are likely trying to stay cool inside, this is a great time to reassess where you stand with your summer assignments (if you have any).

As you know, students taking many of the advanced classes (Honors, AP or IB courses) next year likely have summer work to complete for those classes. Hopefully you have started making progress on the work that is expected of you. It is important to remember that you are responsible for completing all summer work and that it will impact your grade in your class. In the past there have been times when students would procrastinate on completing their summer assignments and then decide at the last minute that they would drop out of the advanced course in favor of the non-advanced version (so, for example, dropping AP US History in favor of regular US History).  If you are planning on switching levels, it is really important that you make that change prior to Wednesday, July 15th. If you wait until after July 15th to decide that you want to change levels, you will still be responsible for completing the summer work because even if you change levels your summer assignment is a part of your academic record and so your grades on the summer assignments will go with you to the new class.

Hopefully you are feeling good about your summer assignments and what is expected of you. If you haven't started, we strongly encourage you to start working on it. If you have lost your summer assignments, please feel free to check out the WKHS Counselor website - www.wkhscouselors.com - as we have posted the assignments your teachers have submitted there as well.

And, for the record, if you do want to drop from an advanced course to a regular class, please just email your school counselor before the end of the day on Wednesday the 15th and we will make the change for you once we return to school. The date/time stamp on the email will allow us to know which students have dropped without needing to complete the summer work.

We hope you are enjoying your summer and hope that the 2nd half is relaxing, enjoyable and productive.